{"id":1362,"date":"2014-03-31T07:10:39","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T11:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/?p=1362"},"modified":"2014-03-31T07:10:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T11:10:39","slug":"overview-of-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/2014\/03\/31\/overview-of-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Overview of March"},"content":{"rendered":"

The late afternoon sun bathes the trees and long grass in a hues of golden red. I follow the winding footpath back home after a visit to a very sick friend. The late afternoon breeze feels good on my skin after a very hot and humid day and I feel myself relax as I walk the familiar sandy path home. I pass a woman digging up cassava roots from her mashamba (garden) for her family\u2019s evening meal, greeting her while I continue walking – as is the custom among the Mwinika. Two neighbours call out to each other, continuing a whole conversation without moving away from their meal preparations outside their mud huts! I hear children laugh and talk; somewhere a baby cries. Soon the sun disappears behind the palm and cashew trees and early evening enfolds the landscape like a cloak of mercy, promising rest and restoration from the long day.<\/p>\n

The footpath passes by MaeUsifu\u2019s house where she proudly shows me her vote registration card. She is thrilled about the picture they have taken of her. She is 72 years old, I realise while holding her card with her information, looking up into her smiling, wrinkly face. We are standing beside her house made of sticks planted vertically in the soil, the spaces in between big enough to see all the way through and out to the other side of the 2,5 x 3 meter space she calls \u201chome\u201d! She sleeps on a mat on the packed ground and all her positions can fit into a average size suitcase. Her blind sister lives with her, sitting with legs straight out forward on the sand, smiling in my direction, holding my hand when I took hers. One of MaeUsifu\u2019s daughter\u2019s in law is pounding dried cassava root into a flour to make the glutinous porridge the Mwinika eat as staple with their dried fish \u201ccaril\u201d or beans. Her three living children sitting stark naked on the ground at her feet, playing contentedly. Everyone is healthy, she says greeting me while straightening up from the big, hollow stump they use for pounding, her body heavy with child. I look back to the tiny 72 year old woman still standing smiling before me, realizing: MaeUsifu is contented. She has all she needs: she is surrounded by her family, has food and shelter. But most importantly, since last year: she knows Jesus.<\/p>\n

Crickets and thousands of other insects start their songs while I complete the last bit of distance to our house. Revelling in the knowledge: I too have all I need. I am home. Jesus is my home!<\/p>\n

How can I possibly tell you the story of our life here in Mwinikaland? How can I accurately communicate the triumphs, the pains, the everyday living and breathing of our Mwinika friends and neighbours in this African country? Not even taking into account that English is my second language (:)), I have no words to describe life here. So, I will tell the story of the last month to you through a series of pictures; the photos we took of some of the things we have seen and experienced… May it speak louder than a 1000 words!<\/p>\n

The Road to Somewhere \"\"<\/a> We heard about the heavy rains in our region, but experiencing it first hand on our way home from South Africa was quite something! We think this every year, but … have we ever seen the roads this damaged by the rain before? \"\"<\/a> No, this is no dam, it is what is left of the road! Half an hour from home we passed through what is left of the road linking our area with the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

Welcome back! \"\"<\/a> Welcome back! This is the sight that welcomed us back the night we arrived back home. While the Mwinika don\u2019t put any value in something as \u201cuseless\u201d as flowers, they know how much I love it and put it here simply to welcome us home. The sweetness of this gesture brought tears to my eyes! In the background you can see the half finished part of our house that will one day be a living room and bathroom. \"\"<\/a> Another welcome, this one from Hoppy, the bush baby that decided he\u2019ll adopt us. We thought he would have gone completely wild in our absence, but on the very first night we were home, Hoppy came to say \u201challo\u201d.<\/p>\n

The miracle \"\"<\/a> We have written about this little guy had a tropical sore from a flesh eating bacterium that covered almost all of his leg below the knee. His family refused to leave him at the hospital where he should have received intravenous antibiotics, and we despaired that he would die. We continued to pray for him, almost daily. \"\"<\/a> His father has bought an antibiotic at the market (black market), pounded it into a powder and used it on Sulveri\u2019s leg during the time we were away. We prayed for this little guy \u2013 and see, the miracle! What is the chance that this antibiotic would have been the right kind to combat the resistant bacteria? Although he has as of yet very little movement in his leg, it is healing!<\/p>\n

One day in our lives… Home schooling (for Nadia) and lesson development and preparation (for Francois) in the morning, a quick lunch and then off to a \u201cMuhiyara\u201d or 40 day-after-death ceremony at friends \u2013 still unbelievers \u2013 house. Directly after that we left for the Believers\u2019 meeting in the Rekela village… On our return, while visiting one of the believers, our neighbour Amer come to meet us: his oldest daughter who is just 7 months pregnant is bleeding! Can we help? Following, the pictures of this day:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> The ceremony of a baby that died40 days ago. These friends of ours are still unbelievers \u2013 their house just too far from the teaching to make it a comfortable option to come to the Bible teaching. In this photo the men are reciting their holy book while the women watch from a distance. Francois stands among the men, but like the other believers, he does not recite. He is present though to show his respect and support during this family\u2019s grief. \"\"<\/a> Nadia visiting with the women before the ceremony. Since we\u2019ve been back, all my friends have been telling me how nice and fat I am! In the Mwinika culture that is a huge compliment, since it means that my husband is taking care of me – or in this instants, that my mom cooks well! Even while I walk away from a group, I can still hear my friends telling each other: \u201cIsn\u2019t she just really fat? Just look at those upper arms! And her…\u201d so on and so forth! :). Some things never change, and being told that I am fat, seems to be one of them!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> The Believers\u2019 meeting in the Rekela village later that afternoon. In this picture you can see Antoen, the leader of this group of about 30 people. Antoen was commenting on our partners car that burned out and delayed our return: \u201cGod is indeed good. Francois and his wife and children with all their stuff could have been in the car when the fire broke out, but they weren\u2019t. In that we can see the Lord taking care of them, bringing them safely back to us.\u201d He continued: \u201cWe should also go where the Lord sends us. We should not have many excuses for not going! Like Francois and his wife, they could have said, no, my father is sick, my mother is sick, I can\u2019t leave them now. But they did leave, because the Lord still has work for them here! He can take care of Francois\u2019s father and Nadia\u2019s mother. He can take care of their car! The Lord God is great!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Later afternoon, while visiting with \u201cgrandma\u201d down the road, Amer came to look for us: please, can we come quick, Saafi is in pain! Saafi, is oldest daughter and now married for just over a year, is 7 months pregnant, but when it was clear that she was in labour when I reached her! Her mother, aunt and I jumped in our car with Saafi, driving as fast as the really bad road allowed us to the closest clinic (about 15 minutes drive away). Within 30 minutes after arriving at the clinic, a beautiful, healthy little girl was born to Saafi and her husband! I was asked to weigh and hold the new born, which I did with pleasure! \ud83d\ude42 The baby was small, just 1.5kg, but alert and strong. Praise the Lord for this little miracle!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> I arrived home early evening to prepare dinner for our family… a really busy day!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> The Believers\u2019 meeting in our village: the believers in our village were meeting for the first time in a while. Since the rains started, everyone was busy getting their fields ready, planting peanuts, groundnuts and rice in the lower areas. Now it was time to get together again. During this meeting Salim (pictured here) and Francois were co-teaching, doing revision of the lessons already covered. It was amazing to see how much everyone remembered and with how much eagerness and joy they listened and participated.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> More people are being added to the Believers\u2019 groups. These people must then first understand the foundations of the first cycle evangelistic teaching, before they can really benefit from this 2nd cycle. Francois and his helpers are visiting each house hold to see how much they understand and how they can be encouraged. There is so much that needs to be done in this area of discipleship! The harvest is ready, but the labourers few…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Our co-worker, Phil Henderson, joined us for a few weeks to do the translation of Ephesians with his group of helpers. His family are still back in the US, although they all hope to return permanently to the village by mid-year. Please pray for him as living \u201csolo\u201d here in the village is always a challenge, but more than that: translating God\u2019s Word asks for an extra measure of wisdom and grace!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Literacy is still a key to the church plant. We are getting more teachers trained so that more courses can be presented. Nadia has two teachers working with her to get more post-literacy material written and produced. We are also working on getting the Bible lessons simplified so that it can be taught to even young children.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Daudi is also visiting us for a few days! He is a young missionary from Tanzania, with roots to a people group in northern Mozambique. Daudi\u2019s visit is encouraging not only to us, but also to the Mwinika believers! Yesterday, during a Believers\u2019 meeting, one man said: \u201cIf a simple fisherman like, Daudi, can become a messenger of God\u2019s Word to other people, we can do it too!\u201d We thank the Lord for maturing believers.<\/p>\n

Pray with us that they will come to fully understand what it means to be \u201csaved\u201d… and that each one of us \u201csaved ones\u201d has a responsibility to take this Message of Hope and to live it and share it! Praise the Lord for some fledgling believers who are excited to know that no one gets saved just to go to heaven, but that we are all saved with and for a purpose here and now while we tarry on earth.<\/p>\n

This but a glimpse of our world… Thank you for your prayers. It is much needed here on the \u201cfore front\u201d! Pray too for more labourers, the task is truly great and there are so few to do it …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The late afternoon sun bathes the trees and long grass in a hues of golden red. I follow the winding footpath back home after a visit to a very sick friend. The late afternoon breeze feels good on my skin after a very hot and humid day and I feel myself relax as I walk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":808,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ministry","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/808"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/francois-hattingh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}